The Great AdapterQ: Right. At a 1,000 shares, how much commission were you
paying at that point?
A: Oh, it was horrible, a penny and a half maybe. I’m trading at a
third of that now [laughter]. Every hundred-thousand shares was
$1,500 bucks.
Q: Right.
A: Outrageous, but we were making a lot more money because
we were still trading in fractions.
Q: And fractions made it a lot easier to flip over. So, for the first
two weeks, you’re trying to get the feel of it. It’s a lot harder than
it looks. What’s going on there?
A: I was thinking maybe I made a mistake, maybe this guy is just
really good and he’s got some secret that he’s not willing to give
up, because this is pretty hard. But the more I kept doing it, I kept
figuring out little things. I think it was more building a familiarity
with the stock. How the stock moved and really watching what
the overall market was doing in tandem. These stocks were pretty
highly correlated. So I would just short them, hold some wiggles,
and learn how to catch one or two point moves.
Q: How long did it take you to become profitable?
A: A month to six weeks.
Q: How much risk per trade would you allow yourself at that
point?
A: Well, there were occasional ones when I got stubborn. But
usually around a half point, I was getting out for sure—if I could.